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Nestor Aparicio

Hey Baltimore sports fans, it’s Twitter not Spitter

The game is all set for Thursday night and I’m all set to jump a plane to Birmingham, Alabama and make my usual drive through the lovely eastern part of the South toward Atlanta for another Georgia Dome visit and a Thursday night date with Matt Ryan and my old pal Mike Smith’s Falcons. Now that Le’Ron McClain has been found innocent by Park Avenue, I suppose we can move the topic from “spitter” to “Twitter”. If you are NOT “on Twitter” (as they say) let me make an impassioned plea for you to try it tomorrow night and follow along (or just follow from the front page here at WNST.net or in our LIVE CHAT) and see all the fun you’re missing by not getting completely caught up in the mobile fun of gameday with feedback. Over the last 18 months, WNST.net has moved from a “little radio station” into the most-viewed and relevant Baltimore sports media site in the new media space. Come see what all of the fuss is about tomorrow night when we crush the coverage of the Falcons-Ravens game. Along with Chris Pika and Glenn Clark, we’ll be in Atlanta. Thyrl will be at HighTopps

Ray Lewis past, present and future: Will he be a Ray of Light in the future?

The really interesting part of watching all of this Baltimore football history unfold around me in so many ways is watching us all age. I don’t think there was a person in the stadium Sunday that didn’t have some anchor to identify emotions that are tied to the 2000 Ravens and what that Super Bowl did for the spirit and soul of our community during 2001. And there was no one in the crowd who wasn’t 10 years younger and wasn’t thinking about pulling out whatever Whiskey Joe’s memories or whatever emotional bond we all have to Jan. 28, 2001. These stories and memories have surfaced with a variety of interesting and fun comments on Facebook this week but all of this Super Bowl XXXV frivolity – and apparently the Ravens had one whopper of an internal party on Saturday night with all sorts of interesting “fallout” – has made us all misty

Ray Lewis past, present and future: Celebrating the Ray of today

People still ask me every day of my life what Ray Lewis is like and if I don’t put forth any other theories about No. 52 over the next few days just know this: he is very complex and leads a complicated and very full life with tons of responsibilities and obligations that I wouldn’t care to list or profess to know a whole lot about. But I’m convinced there’s no time for “down time” being Ray Lewis circa Nov. 2010. And I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t want to trade places in life with him. Because I really don’t think it’s easy being Ray Lewis. First, I’m not around the team six days a week anymore. Because I’m running this awesome web and new media company that occupies every waking moment of my existence these days and I because I have the great Glenn Clark to chase the team every day as Baltimore’s best Ravens beat reporter, I only encounter Ray Lewis twice a week – on Wednesday during media day and Sunday after the games in the locker room. Despite my 15 years of ups and downs with him, I’m just another guy with a microphone and a

Ray Lewis past, present and future: Is it safe to say the Ghost of Ray has passed?

I was sitting in a Canton restaurant six weeks ago doing a WNST.net sales presentation and out of the corner of my eye I caught a purple flash. There, larger than life was the familiar sight of Ray Lewis coming down on Darren Sproles on the San Diego turf last fall on all of the flat screens at once in a jarring HD highlight reel, then pounding more running backs, belting quarterbacks and creating that beautiful purple havoc that we’ve grown to love to watch on Sunday afternoons in Baltimore. The volume was down but it didn’t take me long to realize that Steve Sabol and a series of former Ravens coaches were doing a roundtable conversation about the career of Ray Lewis and I realized this was the NFL Films special that was shot in Orlando back during the NFL Owners Meetings that I attended. It was the same day when I spent time with all of these same people – Jack Del Rio, Mike Smith, Marvin Lewis, Rex Ryan, Mike Singletary – for a coffee table conversation book I’m working on about the lineage of Baltimore coaching and leadership. In case you missed any of the segments on

State of Baltimore Sports Media Fall 2010 Update: WNST.net continues to grow beyond radio and into web dominance

One of the few joyful benefits of being the “independent” voice in Baltimore sports is that we never have to kiss anyone’s derriere or ask for permission to speak the truth or make our point. We’re afforded the rarest commodity in American media today – “free speech” – and most days that ain’t even close to being free. And now that our newest product, “The WNST Morning Newspaper” powered by Blue Sky Factory and presented by Toyota, is reaching nearly 15,000 of you every morning I thought I’d take a little time during the bye week to update everyone who cares about us here at WNST.net with a “state of the local media” report. With another successful Ravens season reaching the halfway point – and I stand on the side of the room that is delighted with 5-2 for Halloween — it’s always a good time to take stock in where we are as a company and where we’re heading in the future as Baltimore’s measurable sports media leader on the web and in mobile at WNST.net. We’re not doing a lengthy survey this time around with a “State of Baltimore Sports Media” update, but I do want to thank

Bench Flacco for Bulger? Are you people on dope?

In the era of the internet, it doesn’t take long to ferret out the bitchers, moaners, whiners, complainers and bridge jumpers on a fall NFL Sunday afternoon. Being the social media zealot that I am, it’s easy to feel the temperature of the never-ending Baltimore “barstool” here at WNST.net during our Purple Haze live chats as well as all over Facebook and Twitter during games. For an old fart like me, it’s quite compelling (if not entertaining) to gauge the shaky and ever-changing morale of the purple fan base during each possession, each drive and each success and failure by the Ravens. To say Sunday’s performance by Joe Flacco was a hot button would be an understatement. I could only hope that the Orioles 14-year free-fall would have such relevance and concern to the Baltimore sports community. Sure, Flacco stunk. He stunk early and often and looked bewildered at different points during the first half of a 5-for-18, 23-yard first half. The second half started with a solo burst of offensive success as Flacco led the team into the Bengals’ end zone on the initial drive but in the end it wasn’t good enough as he threw four interceptions in

Is Mark Sanchez really a fruitcake? We’ll find out tonight as Ravens visit Jets

If you don’t watch Hard Knocks on HBO, you won’t get the humor in the headline but I have a hunch you will be watching tonight as eight months of sports silence in Baltimore and a revenge game on national TV for Jets coach Rex Ryan should whet your appetite for the deliciousness of the next 17 weeks and beyond. Tonight, the Ravens finally play football. For real… I have been quite silent this summer as the Orioles have continued to tank it en route to a last-place finish but today I recommit to telling you what I think during the football season. I’ve been busy 24 hours a day building the new WNST.net that many of you are enjoying daily via our many means to reach you: the Morning Newspaper, text service, Facebook, Twitter, AM 1570, this very website at WNST.net, etc. The Orioles are winning and no one is watching while the Ravens have been dormant since that dark night in Indianapolis eight months ago but have once again captured the imagination not only of the local marketplace but they’ve become the national media darlings and are expected to be in Dallas in early February by many pundits.

Peter King gives a Football 101 Tweetup at Amicci’s

A big thank you to all of the local football zealots who braved the raindrops and joined us at Amicci’s in Little Italy tonight for our first-ever, official “Tweetup.” Our gracious host Peter King of SI.com held court for two hours of banter, beer drinking, football chatter, storytelling and laughs. Oh, and it’s Amicci’s — so you know the food didn’t suck! Too much to tell you about but here’s a brief video clip of the beginning of what was an illuminating and entertaining session of NFL insider information: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrE8CtCm7pU[/youtube]

Great pasta and great football talk with Peter King at Amicci’s today

If the rain has you down today, please come indoors with us after 4 p.m. down at Amicci’s in Little Italy for our first-ever “Tweetup” with legendary Sports Illustrated writer and NBC personality Peter King. Peter loves Twitter (who doesn’t?) and he asked me a few weeks ago about doing a Tweetup in Baltimore because today is his very wet day to be in Westminster doing a SI.com postcard on the Ravens. The event is free, the food is spectacular and the football conversation will be legendary. All you need to do is be at Amicci’s between 4 and 6:30 for all of the Italian food, American football and cold beer and cocktails. I dare you to find a better happy hour in Baltimore today…

In lieu of American Idol, we give you Baltimore Sports Media Idol in the morning

I’m not sure whether it’s good news or bad news for Baltimore, but I’ll be filling in for Drew Forrester on the Morning Reaction three days this week and will be bringing along one of my favorite annual competitions — the “So you think you can do this better than me” competition for sports radio, media and the web. As many of you know, virtually every host or writer we’ve ever had at WNST has come to me in this very format — they’ve all come in with a dream of doing this for a living and some have survived, some have thrived and others have provided entertainment and comedy along the way. It really kinda IS like American Idol from my perspective, except the winner only gets $500 in WNST gift cards and merchandise. It’s not about the prize as much as it is the opportunity. But it’s hard to tell someone they suck when they just did three minutes of the worst sports radio I’ve ever heard and they think they’re Chris Berman. It’s also been rewarding in finding really cool people like last year’s winner Luke Jones, who has gone on to a hosting role here at

Here’s Buck…so where’s Peter?

As we watch the next press conference welcoming yet another Orioles manager to Baltimore amidst more rhetoric about the farm system, young players and how “tough” things are in the AL East, I’ll be wondering where the owner of the team is to take accountability for this 2010 meltdown. Now in their 13th year of nonstop losing one thing has remained constant — the man who is responsible for all of this civic tragedy, Peter Angelos, will be absent once again. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STRgnJzuHxc[/youtube] And once again, Angelos’ many employees in the media will be front and center to ask their newest co-worker, Buck Showalter, softball questions and lay-ups while the team flounders, the downtown business community decays and the team is 32-73. Today will once again illuminate the difference between the baseball team and the football team. When the Ravens hire, fire or take on water, owner Steve Bisciotti shows up for the press conference and sometimes painfully has to accept responsibility for failures at season’s end. Today, with the Orioles 13 years into a black hole, their owner Peter Angelos and his family will act the roles of cowards and  scarecrows — fingers pointed in every direction except the mirror

Sunday Morning thoughts…

While we await another day of Ravens training camp and ponder life without Domonique Foxworth, I’m actually thinking about Buck Showalter’s press conference tomorrow and how in the world he’s going to stand on a podium at The Warehouse after 13 years of losing and proclaim that he has answers for this colossal turd that is the Orioles circa 2010. * As much bad news as we’ve had from Westminster, it’s good to see Todd Heap back on field this morning. The tight end position, the depth and how Cam Cameron will use these guys with a better receiving corps will be worth following during camp and early season. * Had a blast at the Manchester City-InterMilan game last night. We’ll see if the lack of civic response will cost us World Cup games in 2022 when U.S. gets bid. We’ll know more on Dec. 3 when FIFA gives us the ball.

Let the search for Baltimore’s next sports media star begin now…

With WNST.net about to enter its 13th year of existence the changes we’ve made here are pretty apparent. As has been my mantra for more than three years, WNST – the “radio station” – has evolved into a thriving web company with tremendous reach and accessibility to Baltimore sports fans in a myriad of ways. We’re growing at WNST.net this summer and building a better user experience for the people who love Baltimore sports the most – you, the very person reading this blog and utilizing WNST.net for all of your local and national sports information. From our radio station’s original reach and the distribution of sports information on this website and the level playing field we enjoy on the web and with mobile information, we’ve managed to grow the company to become the No. 1 most-visited website in the marketplace for Baltimore radio and No. 4 overall, only behind BaltimoreSun.com, WBALTV.com & WJZ.com for daily traffic and influence (according to www.alexa.com). We now have more than 10,000 people every morning getting our all-new WNST Morning Newspaper. We have 5,600 people every day on our WNST Text Service. And our web numbers grow every single day in social media with

Bruno Sammartino dinner is postponed

For all of you fellow 1970’s WWWF fans, I’ve got some good news and bad news. Earlier this week Bruno Sammartino’s wife had an emergency knee replacement and he called me two days ago and asked if we could reschedule the July 18th date to later in the year. Obviously, it’s disappointing that we’re going to move the date into the fall but at least we’re doing our best to make it happen. Candidly, ticket sales haven’t been what we anticipated but we’re still in a position to make the event happen even if it’s downscaled a bit. I want to give Bruno a week to get his wife’s rehab in place and we’ll look for an appropriate date in the Fall. Hope you understand and know that I’m JUST as excited as the many who’ve written me to say it’s a pretty cool and unique event. I’ve still never met Bruno and it’s been a thrill to just chat with him on the phone. If you know of some other wrestling friends who would like to attend the event we still have every intention of making this happen. We’ll get you more details when I can circle the wagons

Maybe now Cleveland will leave Art Modell alone?

I’m not an expert about much but Cleveland is something I know a lot about. As much as I like to have some fun with our cousins to the Midwest – it’s been a healthy rivalry ever since Art Modell stepped foot into Parking Lot D in Nov. 1995 – today a little piece of me is angry for them. It’s true – anger is to Cleveland what fake breasts and sunshine are to California. People in Cleveland are perennially angry. They hate the Browns. They hate Art Modell. They hate losing. They hate whoever is the quarterback of the Browns. They hate that they haven’t won a championship. They hate me. And this morning, for the first time since Modell brought us the Ravens, they have a right to be burning 23 jerseys and “M-F-ing” Lebron James into perpetuity. Sure, “King James” had the freedom to play wherever he wanted to play. Sure, Miami has prettier girls (although I always had a good time in Cleveland, wink, wink) and more sunshine and Chris Bosh and Dewayne Wade and Pat Riley. But Cleveland held something intrinsic and legitimate that Lebron James sold away in one sentence last night, something that

Three on the 4th: What do Peter Angelos, Al Davis & George Steinbrenner have in common?

Well, since I’ve gotten your attention on the hot, sticky holiday here’s an amazing statistic that I think I sorta kinda knew, but could only be reminded of on the 4th of July. On July 4, 1929 BOTH Al Davis and Peter Angelos were born. Yes, same day, same year! And, just 365 days later, on July 4, 1930, Yankees tyrant George Steinbrenner was born. Three of the biggest jerks of their respective eras. Three sports owners. Three wealthy men. Three widely unpopular men. And currently, all three are in various states of illusion, disillusionment and/or failure in their communities to some degree. Of course, we could say that Steinbrenner — only after being banned and disgraced by his fellow owners — came out of the “dark ages” of the pinstripes with championships galore over the past 15 years. And, apparently his mental health is failing so we’ll try to be as tasteful as we can be about a guy who volumes of books were written about his eccentricities and temper over the years. But this is some “club” huh, these three wack jobs… Well just thought it was worth noting — other than comical efforts at public relations at

Dear Peter Angelos: When will you fix this disgrace?

At the risk of “piling on,” I’ve decided to throw my two cents into the blogosphere today to briefly (insert joke here) discuss the situation regarding the Orioles as they continue their West Coast horror tour where no doubt Adam Jones will be tweeting about how great it is to be in San Diego and how pretty the girls are. Yeah, well I was almost in San Diego, too this week. When I saw the schedule come out last year I looked to do a baseball trip to my favorite city in the U.S. and watch the Orioles play and needless to say I made a great decision avoiding the So Cal and the Bay Areas this June of 2010, especially considering the U2 show on Wednesday night in Oakland was cancelled. I also thought for a while I was headed to the World Cup in South Africa, but alas, duty calls here in Baltimore in the way of running WNST.net. I’m much happier to be headed to Harford County for the day to support soccer and my country, than to be watching this dreadful 18-48 baseball team in sunny San Diego over 7 a.m. eggs and bacon. I built

Pick a World Cup game and join WNST for a beer!

It’s with great enthusiasm for the World Cup, WNST.net announces the following viewing parties and soccer celebrations throughout the month of June. Join us for a cold beer and a cup of soccer cheer as the greatest event in the world commences with the USA in the middle of the action. Pick a game. Pick a date. Pick a barstool. Let’s watch some soccer and have fun in June!!! Friday, June 11 10 — South Africa-Mexico JOIN US AT SLAINTE IN FELLS POINT 2:30 – Uruguay-France Saturday, June 12 Baltimore County World Soccer Festival SEE ALL DETAILS HERE… 7:30 – South Korea-Argentina 10 – Argentina-Nigeria 2:30 – England-USA JOIN US AT GREENE TURTLE TOWSON FOR POST-EVENT BEGINNING AT 5 P.M. Sunday, June 13 7:30 – Algeria-Slovenia 10 – Serbia-Ghana 2:30 – Germany-Australia JOIN US AT SEAN BOLAN’S IN BEL AIR Monday, June 14 7:30 — Netherlands-Denmark 10 – Japan-Cameroon 2:30 – Italy-Paraguay JOIN US AT AMICCI’S IN LITTLE ITALY Tuesday, June 15 7:30 — New Zealand-Slovakia 10 – Ivory Coast-Portugal 2:30 – Brazil-North Korea JOIN US AT 7 WEST IN TOWSON Wednesday, June 16 7:30 – Honduras-Chile 10 – Spain-Switzerland 2:30 – South Africa-Uruguay JOIN US AT GREENE TURTLE IN

Sadly, Bob Haynie departs WNST after 10 years

It is with great sadness that WNST announces a mutual professional parting of the ways with longtime midday host Bob Haynie. The past two years of economic downturn have created a lack of funding and specific sponsorship for Bob Haynie’s radio show here at WNST-AM 1570. It’s a financial reality that we need sponsorship dollars to make any programming or content viable here at WNST. And our listeners – and now our readers and our community at WNST.net – are the people who are the ultimate arbiters of our success by supporting our local sponsors who count on the business to support their families. The bottom line: despite our love of Bob and his excellent radio show, sponsorship to Bob Haynie’s radio show on WNST was down significantly and despite our best efforts to change that in partnership with Bob, we couldn’t reach terms on an arrangement moving forward. When you, as the reader of this blog or this site, actually financially support the local businesses you see here, the employees of WNST get to keep their jobs and feed their families doing sports media with us. We don’t talk about it much – actually we probably don’t say it

I’ve got World Cup Fever and I want you to catch it

Because I have nothing better to do than sit around and dream up ways to have fun around the clock, sometimes even I can come up with a good idea. My vision was seeded from my time in Europe four years ago for the Germany World Cup and now we’ve put together a day of soccer joy that we’re hoping will be the best event we’ve ever been associated with in Baltimore. One Saturday, June 12th in conjunction with ASG Sports and the Towson Chamber of Commerce, we’re throwing the biggest red, white and blue soccer festival anywhere in the area to root on the US as they tackle England in the first game of the 2010 World Cup. I’ll be posting some of my videos and stories from my experiences at the previous World Cup. And if I can’t be in South Africa for the kickoff of this one, at least I’ll be with thousands of Baltimore-area soccer lovers who all want to have a great time and celebrate the event together in a beautiful public square watching the game with a Miller Lite and a lawn chair. Here are all of the details: As a FREE celebration of

With Nats-Orioles series looming, we get more stupid comments from Peter Angelos

It’s another interesting spring weekend for the local baseball aficionados in the area who bring their civic report cards as well as a copy of the MLB standings with them to the ballpark. The Baltimore Orioles are once again visiting the Washington Nationals and this time one set of fans finally cares about the vaunted “Beltway Series” that Peter Angelos swore over and over would never happen. And it’s not Baltimore… Angelos, while sitting with me at The Barn in 1997 and then again various times in the ensuing years, opined that the “Baltimore vs. Washington rivalry” would never happen in my lifetime. Today, with the Nationals beginning to flourish in the NL East in their sixth year of existence and Angelos pocketing upward of $40 million per year off of the transaction, the owner of the Orioles finally spoke out. Angelos was asked in a rare appearance in the daily fish wrap this morning about whether the “rivalry” would ever catch on to be local Hatfields and McCoys. His response: “You never know. It’s kind of early to say if that will happen.” Actually, Mr. Angelos, it’s been six years. The Ravens won a Super Bowl for Baltimore in

Less than 2,000 “real fans” attend Orioles game last night

The Orioles announced the crowd at 9,299, which is almost laughable if you were a witness to the scene of about 1,500 who actually came down to Oriole Park at Camden Yards last night to observe the two worst teams in Major League Baseball. Thankfully, a picture taken during the 2nd inning at 7:20 p.m. EST is worth a thousand words so here you go: Somewhere, Claude Brochu and the folks with Montreal Expos swag in Quebec don’t feel so lonely anymore. The Orioles have truly become the embodiment of the Montreal Expos. We literally had more Free The Birds people back in September 2006 than there were “real Orioles fans” last night in ballpark. For the record, I’d estimate the Free The Birds crowd last night at about 75 throughout the evening at Phillips Harborplace. It was alarming for many of the folks who don’t come downtown very often to see how desolate and deserted the downtown streets are before and after the games. There is no traffic. There are no street vendors. There are no traffic cops. It’s like there’s no game being played at all. Here’s a video of my evening at Camden Yards last night: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4120mYH0vY[/youtube]

Despite gloomy forecast, Free The Birds set for tonight

Despite the gloomy forecast for rain, we’re still coming downtown tonight for another Free The Birds gathering to show our displeasure at the current state of the Orioles franchise. I could write tomes here today about all of the reasons the Orioles have been awful for 13 years but all of the folks who are already committed to coming downtown know that the owner, Peter G. Angelos remains the sole existing problem in the organization. To paraphrase: “It’s the owner, dummy…” We’ll be at Phillips Harborplace at 4 p.m. for a pre-game indoor tailgate with free crab balls, chicken tenders, munchies and $3 domestic beers all night. And if the weather holds up — the forecast is a 70% chance of rain tonight — we’ll be among the very few at Oriole Park at Camden Yards tonight to witness a franchise that is almost as dreadful as the Orioles as the Kansas City Royals bring their own brand of Triple-A baseball to Baltimore. We’ll walk up to the game and the only two missions we have tonight are simple to explain: to make our voices and message heard and to have a lot of fun. Pretty simple event. Come to

Six days from now we’ll do “Free The Birds”: Where will you be?

The time has come to be heard. Over the past four years I can’t begin to even estimate how many people have yelled a simple phrase at me on the streets of Baltimore: “FREE THE BIRDS!” It’s nice to know that a movement that I felt was rooted in peace, baseball, community and the future of downtown could take hold and that so many people thought it was a great thing and wanted to participate, even if it’s just buying a shirt and wearing it to the mall or screaming “FREE THE BIRDS” at me out their windows on city streets. Join our Facebook “Free The Birds” fan page here… Join our Facebook “I’m coming to FREE THE BIRDS 2010” event page here… But civic politics are a funny and strange business and it’s taken me into my forties to realize there are two kinds of people in the world when you’re outspoken: those for you and those against you. And most days, you feel like you only hear from those against you. Honestly, four years ago I thought this: “Who in the WORLD could possibly believe that Peter Angelos has done a good job with the Orioles since 1997?

Free The Birds event is set for May 17th…

The official “Free The Birds 2010 — The Reunion” is underway now with planning and events scheduled for Monday, May 17th. To make us aware of your attendance, please sign up for the event via Facebook and our events page here. The event will begin at 4 p.m. at Phillip’s Harborplace where we’ll have some happy hour specials and fun. Feel free to buy the cheapest tickets possible and come downtown to make your voice heard regarding the state of the Baltimore Orioles, circa 2010.

Let’s check back in on the “State of Baltimore Sports Media” with Orioles sitting at 2-14 on NFL Draft Day

So this media situation is exactly what I tried to warn everyone about back in February. I spent a week with my “State of Baltimore Sports Media” blogs attempting to take 27 years of my knowledge as a kid from Dundalk who loved sports and journalism and has spent a lifetime trying to build a better platform for integrity and honesty in an effort to enlighten folks about why we think WNST.net is a great way to communicate in 2010. The Orioles are 2-14. It’s almost unthinkable — unimaginable given the “enthusiasm” that was sold by the corporate suits over at CBS Radio and the MASN “partners” of a 13-year running sham known as Peter G. Angelos’ Orioles. Don’t worry, the rest of the local media that takes checks from King Peter and the crew aren’t off the hook here, either, for hiding the truth and burying the story about last week’s Ripken blowup. The Orioles are 2-14 and there’s not a negative word – not anywhere. There’s no call for the manager’s head. The owner – completely unaccountable and in hiding longer than the guy in the cave in the Middle East – never answers questions. The Ripken story

Hey Orioles fans: If you’re angry, sign up for Free The Birds 2010 now…

People have been asking me all week, “What’s the problem with the Orioles?” This is a recurring civic question that I’ve known the correct answer to for about a decade. It’s the only “variable” that has remained consistent in Baltimore baseball since 1993. The problem with the Orioles has been, is and will be — until he dies or sells the team – Peter G. Angelos. I didn’t need a 1-11 start and the first sniff of a simmering feud with Cal Ripken to know the gospel truth about the Orioles or any business in America in 2010. It starts at the top. If you’ve watched “Undercover Boss,” you know what I mean. I run a business. I spend all day, every day talking to fellow business owners. Peter Angelos has been very, very consistent in how he’s run not only the Orioles, but his law firm as well. He’s in charge and there’s only one name on the door. Fair enough. He owns the team. He’s allowed (and expected) to be in charge. Anyone who even implies that Andy MacPhail is “in charge” is just stupid and hasn’t been paying attention. But at some point the people who are

Cal Ripken & Ken Rosenthal vs. Peter Angelos: Who do you believe?

It was only a matter of time. This orange collision course of wills regarding the Orioles and Peter Angelos vs. Cal Ripken finally exploded late last night when Ken Rosenthal leaked a story on FoxSports.com that claimed via several MLB sources that Ripken and Andy MacPhail met earlier this week regarding some kind of employment/partnership within the organization. Rosenthal: “Angelos, however, nixed the idea in a separate conversation with Ripken, telling him, according to three sources, that he did not want Ripken to receive credit once the team returned to prominence.” So, what exactly transpired here this week between Ripken and the current Orioles regime? And how did Ken Rosenthal wind up back in the middle of a Baltimore baseball triangle with the owner of the team and Cal Ripken? As is always the case with Angelos, there’s a “morning after” dispute as to what happened and he has since answered with another one of his famous press releases feigning innocence and an open invitation to Ripken. Having been through the wars of Baltimore sports media since 1984, I’ve lived through the Rosenthal-Angelos wars of the 1990’s. I saw it all first hand and there was a time when I’ll

Fox&Rosenthal: Angelos turned down Ripken for job with Orioles

Not that this should come as a shock to anyone, but Fox Sports (and Baltimore resident) Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Cal Ripken approached Andy MacPhail and Peter Angelos about becoming involved with the Orioles organization only to be rebuffed. The plot thickens. I’ve been predicting this cauldron of a mess for a few years. It’s only a matter of time before this one boils over in some direction. The Orioles are 1-9. The natives are restless. The place is still clearly a mess as we continue to report. If you want the truth, you’ll keep coming to WNST.net.

So this kid wrote me a letter…

I love these kinds of letters that inspire me to blog. I’m really, really busy running the company right now and so involved in a huge expansion for WNST that I’m a little removed from day-to-day blogging here. You’re MUCH more likely to find me at a business networking event or in social media at Facebook and Twitter than in the actual blogging part of my life. But I’ll start writing more when things slow down and I can focus on my book. But I’m easy to find in the WNST Live Chat almost every night, during every game and will be again tonight during Caps-Habs or Orioles late night from Oakland. (And rest assured, Free The Birds 3 is on my mind a lot given the Orioles ineptitude this week to suck the life out of baseball one more time in Baltimore…) So today I got a “good news” baseball-oriented note from a kid on Facebook and I thought I’d just post it to see how many people would respond: Here goes… Dear Mr. Aparicio, My name is Cody Gelvar, and I am a Junior in high school at the Batlimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly for short) I am also

LIVE CHAT: Orioles try to avoid sweep vs Rays NOW!!!

All aboard Orioles fans, pessimists and optimists alike, for another adventure in Orange Crush baseball here at WNST.net. The chat room is open. I’m hosting today (almost like radio — but not quite). C’mon into our chat and say hi and don’t turn the MASN broadcast down. Instead, just turn YOUR voice, UP!

LIVE CHAT SUNDAY: Join WNST crew for Orioles & Masters talk now…

In the era of new technology, we’re taking our Sundays where you are: the internet and at home watching the game on television just like us. Today, jump into our Orange Crush and Masters Sunday chat and say hello. I’ll be hosting for much of the day but we’ve got all of our hosts watching games and having fun. We might even get some Capitals chatter going in the room as well…

Orioles circa 2010: We know they’ll lie, but will they lie down again?

I know, I’m like a freaking broken record. Every year I write about how I’ve wrongfully had my media pass revoked and every year the Orioles make up some more lies to justify all of their mean-spiritedness and lack of professionalism. It’s Opening Day, I’ve again been deemed “not a media member” but that’s just the “off the field” stuff. On the field, the word “improvement” has been thrown around all offseason in regard to the Orioles. As I’ve said many times, when you lose 98 games it’s hard NOT to improve the following season. It can’t get much worse, really. As sickening as it is that I’ve taken a myriad of phone calls, emails and correspondence wondering “if the Orioles can win 78 games” – as though this disgracefully low bar somehow passes for “improvement” – I am officially one of the optimistic orange Kool Aid drinkers circa April 5th regarding the 2010 season. It is my belief that this is the best team the Orioles have fielded this century. In 2004, the Orioles “best” performance was indeed 78 wins. Las Vegas has the 2010 Orioles over/under at 74 ½. If I were a betting man, I’d honestly take

Let me tell you a story about Michael Vick…

So the circus came to town tonight. And I met Michael Vick. At least, briefly, I did. This story is gonna ramble a little – don’t they all? – but I almost skipped the Ed Block Courage Awards dinner earlier tonight. I wasn’t in the mood to go, I’ve had some long days of work lately and I just didn’t feel much like being in the room with a thousand people and dealing with angry mobs of PETA people and, quite frankly, I just wasn’t in the mood for the hassle. Earlier in the day one of my oldest friends from Dundalk, Frank Vanik, sent me a series of emails saying that he needed tickets to the Ed Block event. Honestly, I didn’t have any tickets for the event and I sent him back a series of emails all day from a variety of meetings. Frank said it was his birthday and he wanted to be at the banquet. And I felt like a tremendous heel because I really didn’t have the tickets, time or ability to help him at the last minute on a heavy workload day. And I knew my friend Sam Lamantia and his staff would be

Happy 91st Birthday to the “real” creator of WNST

Dear Pop: Happy 91st birthday!!! I know you might be used to me doing the radio show dedicated to you every year here on March 5th but this year I’m “off” the radio (the listeners call it “retirement” and I call it “sabbatical”) so I’m just gonna write you this letter and hope it gets to you. And instead of taking calls all afternoon, I’m gonna take comments from folks on this space-aged thing called the internet. (I’ll explain it to you later but there’s a lot of stuff in the world here in 2010 you wouldn’t really understand without seeing it!) A lot has changed since you left us back in July 1992 and I just thought I’d check in and update you a little with this letter – just kind of catch you up a little bit because every single day I think “What would Pop think of this crazy place now?” And I know how much you love to read, so I thought I’d put it in writing for your birthday – how much different this place is in 2010! Yes, I still write “for the paper” occasionally, but they just don’t call it a newspaper anymore.

Finale: Part 5 – What is the future of sports media in Baltimore?

“I will never, EVER “text” with you!” I screamed into my cell phone to my beloved son, Barry, during the summer of 2006 when he filled up my text inbox with messages that I had no idea how to access. “If you don’t call me on the phone, you won’t find me!” What’s that axiom? “It’s what you learn after you know everything that really counts!” Yet again, more words wasted and crow swallowed. It was just another humbling, woefully wrong prediction for my own actions and a future gone awry as I continue to grow in years and wisdom in my 40’s. If there’s one pearl of wisdom I’ve learned the hard way it’s this: the learning NEVER stops and the world never stops changing. I’ve committed myself to be a student of life and it’s what gets me out of bed and keeps me alive and vibrant during these tough times. The entrepreneur in me just got back from eight days in Fort Lauderdale at the Super Bowl watching all of the “big boys” do what they do – television, radio, newspapers, web entities, etc. It’s gone from old days of “Radio Row” to a hodgepodge of different

My last day on air at AM 1570: Goodbye to radio, hello to the brave world of the web!

As you probably know, beginning on Monday, we’re going to begin a week-long series on the state of Baltimore sports journalism. And where this is all going? And how this radio, print, television & “new media thing” really works. “A WNST Expose’ on Sports Journalism in Baltimore: Is this Medium Well Done?” will be an eye-opening look at the inner-workings of sports media here in the town that I’ve loved since 1968 told by a true insider – me! It’s more of a mini-series than a blog. It’s designed to separate facts from fiction of media past, present and future. It’s taken me about 26 years of living it and now that WNST.net is the No. 1 most-visited sports website in the region, I think it’s time that I’ve said a few things that need to be said about the state of this business and how much “times have changed.” It’ll be the true story of life in the 2010 world of Baltimore sports media that Ray Frager — a former boss and media “critic” of mine at The Baltimore Sun who publicly hated, doubted and discarded my show and my brand and my expertise, information and business for more

Traveling to Indy? Here’s Everything you need to know about parties & fun!

So, you’re a Ravens Maniac like us and you’re planning on coming to Indianapolis with us – hopefully on our Miller Lite Purple Playoff Roadtrip but perhaps on your own via planes, buses or automobiles — and you don’t really know the best way to go about it, book it or who to trust? This blog and this information is for Ravens fans like you. Hop aboard and learn “all things Indianapolis, Ravens roadtrip and this weekend’s playoff game” here from WNST.net, where we pride ourselves on throwing the best parties and best events for the traveling purple crowd on the road! First (as a shameless plug), our trip is on sale and our first bus is already sold out. We just put the second bus on sale. Honestly, our bus trip is designed to be the cheapest, easiest and most fun way to do the trip. You show up at 6 a.m. on Friday and almost everything is taken care of for you and you can relax and just have fun until Sunday night when we return around 9 p.m. (Go out on Facebook and ask around to the 109 people we took to New England this weekend or

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The theme of Ravens’ fanbase this week

I’m not an expert on much, but Baltimore sports and enthusiasm are two things I’ve spent my entire existence since 1972 immersed in here in the Charm City. And even though the Ravens are traveling to New England this weekend for an honest-to-God, NFL playoff game, I’m sensing this is the least-exciting postseason run in the history of Baltimore sports. I have more ways to take the temperature of the city than I care to admit. From emails and AM 1570 to thousands of people on Facebook, Twitter and in a variety of web locales — this is a tepid metropolis right now regarding the Ravens. I’m just looking for some purple string lights around the region and I’m not “feeling the love” for the 2009 Ravens. Where’s YOUR purple, Baltimore? Now before you say, “Nasty – I’m fired up for the game on Sunday, what are you talking about?” I will respond with facts (not low blows…). Fact: There are still many flights into Providence, Boston and Manchester all day on Friday and Saturday. Fact: There were still seats left on my bus a few hours ago. I reserved NINE buses for the weekend. I’m using TWO. Fact: Seats

Are you headed to New England this weekend?

It’s no secret that this is our favorite time of the year. The Ravens are in the playoffs, with the possibility of surprising the NFL and shocking the world, and we’re headed to New England this weekend for drinks, smiles, cheers and some postseason, chilly football in Foxborough. If you (or someone you know or love) is headed to the Ravens-Patriots game this weekend, please share this blog and have them join our Facebook group called “I’m going to New England this weekend.” We are finalizing all of our party plans today and will announce it all via WNST AM 1570, our Twitter feed (@WNST) and on our group Facebook page over the next few days. We still have seats left on our 2nd Miller Lite Purple Playoff bus as well. If anyone needs me directly, I can be reached here (nasty@wnst.net) or on Facebook at Nestor J. Aparicio. As our baseball owner once said: “I’m a very available individual…”

Sunday Morning thoughts…

While we await another day of Ravens training camp and ponder life without Domonique Foxworth, I’m actually thinking about Buck

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